Author: Alex Othon

Aston Villa fans are a fairly content bunch at the moment. Dean Smith’s arrival has seen us playing some of the best football that we have done in years. We are finally seeing what we knew this group of players were capable of. There is an optimism that we are starting to push on now and can really become a part of the race for promotion. The next couple of weeks or so up until the new year sees a run of five fixtures, three of which are at home. These are covered in Dean Davis’ piece a couple of…

Aston Villa’s rampant run of goal scoring form continued at the weekend with a curiously comfortable 3-0 victory against a notoriously miserly Middlesbrough outfit. Villa dominated the game pretty much from start to finish. It was the type of performance which is beginning to become commonplace. Dean Smith’s arrival is, of course, the catalyst for this marked improvement. But let’s be very clear; this is much more than just a new manager bounce. In just a couple of months, Smith has completely transformed Villa. We used to be a persistently frustrating mob of individuals and have become an extremely lethal attacking…

Aston Villa made sure yet again that their supporters would be the ones bouncing into work on Monday morning. A resounding 4-2 victory over Birmingham City pretty much gives an accurate oversight of the match. Villa’s defence was somewhat under par, gifting opportunities on a number of occasions. But going forwards there was a constant threat combining quality deliveries with pace and power, which causing a ragged Blue’s back line all sorts of problems. Alan Hutton’s superb individual goal was worthy of clinching victory of such a momentous match and rightly grabbed the headlines. However, swallowing up his own fair…

John McGinn has been earning rave reviews for his performances this season and at a fee of around £2million is considered a bargain. Many Villa supporters are over the moon that we have finally decided to spend wisely in the transfer market. In the past, we have thrown obscene amounts of money hoping for instant success. As I stated, the fee we paid to Hibernian for the Scottish midfielder is looking pretty cheap. Having squandered so much money and having so little to show for it started me thinking. McGinn is certainly a rarity in recent times, but who else…

It’s likely you’re reading this in the week after Aston Villa’s emphatic 3-0 demolition job of Derby County. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably still buzzing from it as well. Villa went up against a bang in-form Ram’s side on their own patch.  Many supporters felt that snatching a point from the fixture would represent progress under new manager Dean Smith. He had already overseen a couple of defeats on the road since beginning his tenure. Indeed, Villa’s dominant display looked to be set to be rewarded with just the one point. Then, a blitz of three goals in…

Aston Villa endured yet another away day to forget last Friday night. They succumb to a 1-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on a chilly night in the capital. Villa are now winless in seven on the road. With our only victory coming on the opening day of the season at Hull City. It’s a problem that is really threatening to plague our season. As it has done in our previous Championship campaigns. Putting together a run of any consistent sort of form together on our travels has massively undermined our generally solid home form. And if a push towards…

Dean Smith’s first match in charge at the weekend finally saw a Villa side featuring players deployed in their natural positions. Other than that, the actual team selection wasn’t particularly radical. Showing that his predecessor Steve Bruce was making life much harder than it needed to be. There was one continued question from fans though, where is Anwar El Ghazi. The inclusion of both Albert Adomah and Ahmed Elmohamady over the likes of Yannick Bolasie did raise a few eyebrows. El Ghazi has quickly become a peripheral figure during his short time at Aston Villa. Despite what seemed to be encouraging performances…

The appointment of Dean Smith as got Aston Villa fans talking about a new start for Scott Hogan. Smith has already stated that he will hold one on one talks with the former Brentford striker. Hogan is by all accounts just as pleased as the fans are about Bruce’s removal from the club. In what the tabloids love to label as ‘an angry swipe’ the Republic of Ireland international has given an insight into what pretty much every single supporter already knew. Hogan has confirmed that he felt ‘hung out to dry’ by Bruce over a couple of issues. Most…

Aston Villa is seemingly making pacey progress in appointing a successor to Steve Bruce who was sacked as manager last week. Thierry Henry was looking nailed on with the bookies to be named sooner rather than later, possibly even by the time you read this. Every supporter has their own view on who we should be going for and who we should be avoiding. After trying to analyse each candidate over and over to the minute detail, isn’t it actually pretty much pot luck as to whether a manager will have success or experience failure? Personally, I’m extremely excited by…

With the dust just about beginning to settle after Steve Bruce’s sacking, all eyes are firmly now on who will be his successor as manager of Aston Villa. By all accounts, the club would like to make an appointment in plenty of time for the visit of Swansea in a couple of weeks time, after the international break. If we have been savvy, feelers on certain options would already have been put out in advance of Bruce getting the chop. Cabbage Gate CEO Christian Purslow was willing to give Bruce this weekend’s game at Millwall to save himself. Which would…